Rolling metallic wheels



2E. E. SUCK.

` ROLLING METALLIC WHEELS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I3. 19181 1,33 3, 1 3'7 Patented Mali 91920.

EDWIN E. SLICK, OF WESTMONT BOROUGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

ROLLING METALLIC wHEELs.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

`Application filed March 13, 1918. Serial No. 222,081.

To all who/m, t may concern Be it known that I, EDWIN E. SLICK, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of Westmont,county of Cambria, and State of Pennsylvania, (whose post-office addressis Johnstown, Pennsylva# nia,) have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Rolling Metallic Wheels; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be va. full, clear, and exact description of the-invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in rolling the tread and flangeportions of metallic ,wheels and although it may be applied to wheelsmade of any particular metal, I will, for the sake of simplicity ofdescription herein, refer to those made of steel.

Heretofore, in rolling flanged wheels and particularly double-flangedwheels such as are used for traveling cranes, traveling tables, etc., ithas been customary to roll the outer cylindrical surfaces of the same inthe form of a right-line cylinder and then 'machine the outer portion toform the tread and flanges. This practice removes the most valuablematerial, as the outer surface of a rolled wheel is that best ladaptedto withstand wear and stresses, besides which this results in a.considerable amount of scrap loss and extra expense. rolling 'the treadand flanges by means of a pair of rolls, one of which is preferablyprovided With a projecting tongue of less width than the tread and of aprojection equal to or greater than the height of the flange of thewheel and, at the same time, usea finishing roll', the contour of thecollar or projecting portion and of the adjacent portions beingsubstantially that of the finished wheel. During this operation the hubof the wheel blank is clamped firmly between a pair of dies whichsubstantially conform to the outline of its intermediate portions, whilethe work is performed upon the flange and tread portions by the rollsaforesaid.

Having thus given a general description of my invention, I will, inorder to make the matter more clear, refer to the annexed sheet ofdrawings, which forms part of this speciication and in which likecharactersrefer to like parts.

Figure 1 is a top plan view, art of which is in section, of my improvewheel tread I obviate this byrolling mill. Fig. 2 is a verticalsectional elevation'of one-half of the machine, taken on a plane passingthrough the wheel web. Fig. 3 is a detailed yview drawn on a largerscale illustrating the arrangements of clamping vdies and tread rolls;and Fig. lis a slightly modified form of clamping dies and tread roll.

Referring now to the characters of reference on the drawings :-1 is themain fra-me of the machine, 2 and 3 are pressure shafts adapted to bemoved together and clamped by fluid pressure and to be rotated by meansconnected to the outer end of the shaft 2, not shown. are the clampingdies 4, which are adapted to substantially conform to the outline of theintermediate portion of the wheeh'as illus- 4trated, and hold itsecurely in position while being rotated. 5 is a hydraulic pressurecylinder provided with a pressurev plunger which is in line with the`pressure shafts 2 and 3, and I also provide a pull-back cylinder andplunger, these being adapted to project and retract the clamping diesecured to the shaft 3. Suitable thrust bearings are provided to takethe thrusts of the shaftsas k. the dies are forced toward each otheranderotated, thereby rotating the wheel blank, which is firmly clampedbetween the dies 4. I also provide a slidable roll housing 6, in whichthe roughing roll 11 is. mounted, and

Secured to the ends ofthe shafts l a slidable roll housing 7, in whichthe inishing roll 13 is mounted, these rolls being-actuated to and fromtheir work by means of the pressure cylinders 9 containing Y pressureplungers, and the pulleback or retracting cylinders 8` and theirplungers; all of which are connected to the slidable roll housings 6 and7. In order to provide a ready means for the adjustment of the forwardmovement of the rolls, I provide large nuts 10 on the ends of the rods,and these have smaller hexagonal or polygonal ends to fit a suitablewrench for the purpose of turning the nut von the screw-threaded end ofthe bolt; and

outside of said large nuts, lock nuts are provided as illustrated, tosecurely clamp the large nuts in position, and by 'screwing orunscrewing and setting these nuts as desired, the forward movement ofthe rolls may be made less or greater, and these nuts provide stops toaccurately gage the inward movement of the rolls to'determine the extentof their action upon the blank. The roughing roll is provided with aprojecting collar 12,

which is lpreferably narrower than and as deep as or deeper than thefinished groove in the wheel, while the finishing roll 13 is providedwith a collar 15 which, with the adjacent grooves 14, is of contoursubstantiallythe same as that of the finished tread and inner portionsof the flanges of the finished wheel. The wheel is indicated generallyas 16, while the wheel blank is 17, shown in dotted lines. The grooveformed in the blank by the roughing roll is 18 and the preliminary orrudimentary flange portions on each sideof the collar of, and formed bythe action of, the roughing roll are 19. The flanges of the finishedwheel are 20 and the grooved tread of same is 21.

Referring now to F ig. 4: 26 is a modified form of finishing roll, 22 isthe tread forming the collar thereof, 23 are grooves therein adjacent tosaid collar, and 24 are modified forms of clamping dies. the projectingportions 25 of which extend farther from the axis than the typeillustrated in Fig. 3, thereby providing further support for the outerportions of the wheel fianges when being formed.

Although I have described and illustrated my invention as applied torolling wheels vwith flanges on each side of the tread, I wish itunderstood that it is equally adapted to rolling wheels with a tread andone fiange only.

The operation of rolling` a wheel is as follows :-Pressure fluid isexhausted from the pressure cylinder 5, thereby retracting the clampingdie 4, which is secured to the shaft 3, and the tread rolls 11 and 13are also retracted by exhausting the pressure fluid from the cylinders9, whereby the pull-back cylinders which are' preferably provided withconstant sources of fluid under pressure, will produce the requiredbackward movements. This being accomplished, a wheel blank. theperiphery of which is composed of a right-line cylinder is in serted andcentered between the clamping dies 4. The

clamping dies 4 yare then projected forcibly' against the wheel blank byadmitting pressure water to the cylinder 5, whereby the blank is heldfirmly between the dies 4. The shaft 2 is then rotated, carrying with itthe clamping dies of thel wheel blank, whereupon the rolls 1.1 and 13are projected toward and into the wheel blank as it revolves byadmitting fiuid under pressure into the cylinders 9. The collar 12 ofthe rpughing roll, produces a narrow indentatlon .or groove in the treadof the rotating Wheel blank, while on the opposite side the collar 15 ofthe finishing roll widens this groove and brings it to its final form.The adjusting nut 10, which regulates the inward movement of theroughing roll,- has been so set that the inward movement of the lroughing roll is arrested at the proper place to complete its work, andthe adjusting nut for the finishing roll has been set so that the lowerpart of the tread of the wheel, which is formed by the projecting collar15 ofthe finishing roll, is at the proper distance from the wheel axisto produce the diameter and finish desired. The revolution is continuedwhile the roughing roll ceases to reduce the blank, while the finishingroll continues to operate and finishes the entire periphery, whereuponthe rolls and clamping dies are retracted and the finished wheelwithdrawn. By arranging a roughing roll at one side of the blank and afinishing roll at the opposite side and projecting said rolls toward thecenter of the blank simultaneously, I thereby provide a substantialequality of pressure on each side of the blank, which facilitates theoperation and prevents undue stresses in the blank or anyportion of theapparatus, as will be readily understood.

It should be noted that in producing the groove, the bottom of whichforms the tread of the wheel, the material of the outer portion of thewheel blank is displaced outwardly to form the flanges, as indicatedparticularly by the dotted and full lines in Figs. 3 and 4.

Although I have described and illustrated my invention in considerabledetail, I do not wish to be limited to the exact and specific detailsthereof as shown and described, butdies, and projecting collared rollsagainst opposite sides of the periphery thereof, at least one of saidrolls being adapted to contact with the interior. and exterior of theflanges and with 'the tread thereby forming the tread and flangeportions.

2. The method'of finishing double flanged wheels, comprising clamping ablank having a cylindrical outer surface between rotating dies, andprojecting a roughing roll with a narrow collar against one side and afinishing roll with a wider collar against the opposite side.

3. The method of finishing double flanged vwheels, comprising clamping'a blank having a cylindrical outer surface between rotating dies;projecting a roughing roll having a narrow collar against one side, andafinishing roll, with a wider colla-r conforming to the finished outlineof the wheel tread and adjacent parts of the flanges, against theopposite side.

4,. The method of finishing double flanged wheels, comprising clamping ablank having a cylindricallouter surface between rotating dies;projectingl a roughing roll with a narrow collarlagainst one side and afinishing roll with a wider collar against the opposite side; thenlimiting the inward projection of said roughing roll while continuingthe inward projection of the finishing roll, whereby the tread is formedto the outline of the finishing roll.

5. In an apparatus for finishing wheel blanks, a pair of clamping diesadapted to substantially conform to the intermediate portion of' theblank, means for 'projecting one die toward the other to clamp the blanktherebetween, means for rotating said dies,`

a roughing roll and a finishing roll slidably mounted adjacent theperiphery and provided with means for projecting same into andretracting same from the work, the roughing roll being provided with acollar adapted to contact with the interior of the rudimentary flangesand tread, and the filiishing roll beine` provided with a collar andgrooves'adaptec to contact with the tread and the interior and theinterior and exterior of the flanges.

6. In an apparatus for finishing Wheel blanks, a pair of clamping diesadapted to substantially conform to the intermediate portion of theblank, means for projecting one die toward the other to clamp the blanktherebetween, means for rotating said dies, a roughing roll and afinishing roll slidably mounted adjacent the periphery and provided withmeans for projecting same into and retracting same from the wheel tread,and adjustable stops adapted to regulate the extent of inward movementof said rolls.

'7. In an apparatus for linishing wheel blanks, a pair of rotaryclamping dies adapted tol clamp the blank therebetween, means foradvancing, retracting and rotating said dies, a roughing roll providedwith Va narrow collar mounted opposite the periphery of the wheel,provided with means for advancing` and retracting same and for limitingits movement, a finishing roll provided with a wider collar and groovesconforming to the finished tread and flanges of said roll,'and means foradvancing, retracting and limiting the movement thereof.

In witness whereof I. hereto afiiX my signature.

EDWIN E. SLICK.

